Whose coup?
"Chaos continues in Argentina after strike by police; Some back to work but looting goes on; 7 people dead" by Michael Warren | Associated Press, December 11, 2013
BUENOS AIRES — Many Argentines armed and barricaded themselves in their homes and stores in fear of looting mobs on Tuesday as the nation’s plans to celebrate 30 years of uninterrupted democracy were marred by police strikes for higher pay.
Damn public sector unions.
Politicians struggled to assert their authority over security forces even as they agreed to salary hikes so steep that many provinces won’t be able to pay their debts at month’s end, adding stress to an economy already suffering from 25 percent inflation.
With police abandoning their posts, and in some cases allegedly encouraging violence to force the authorities’ hands, most of Argentina’s 23 provinces have endured long nights of chaos since the uprisings began last week, with roving groups breaking into storefronts and fighting over the merchandise.
Hospital and political authorities said at least seven people have been killed, including a police officer in northern Chaco province who was struck by a bullet below his protective vest Tuesday, and a store owner whose burned body was found in the remains of his looted market in Buenos Aires province last week.
The others allegedly died while looting. One young man was electrocuted while stealing from an appliance store in a rainstorm. Another fell off a motorcycle while carting off a television. A third died in a fistfight over stolen goods inside a ruined store.
Hundreds of others have been injured and thousands of businesses damaged in the scattered violence. And while most officers were back at work after securing new deals, police uprisings continued Tuesday in several cities. Commerce has been shut down in many places, and even some public hospitals were turning away nonemergency patients for fear of being looted.
With consumer prices soaring, Argentines are accustomed to annual labor protests in which workers threaten chaos if they don’t get their way.
Who do they think they are, bankers?
But strikes by armed police are more ominous in a country where social chaos, police crackdowns, and spiraling violence ushered in the 1976 military coup and a world-record debt default in 2001.
AmeriKa helped with the first, and the globalists were really pi$$ed when the Argentines did the second, choosing to put the state resources into their own people and the nation rather than paying off the IMF and international creditors.
‘‘The Argentine people want peace and harmony. Demands of this nature go beyond any expected limits,’’ President Cristina Fernandez’s Cabinet Chief, Jorge Capitanich, said Tuesday. ‘‘To be a police officer means carrying weapons to protect the citizens, not to generate anxiety among the people and use extortion against their elected leaders.’’
Yes, people want peace everywhere, and policing used to be about that a bit more but not now. It has always been the mu$cle of the state and elite.
To free up cash for the raises, Capitanich announced a three-month delay in payments most Argentine provinces owe this month to the federal government on debts refinanced two years ago.
But human rights groups warned against giving in too easily to the security forces’ demands.
Since when?
The deal Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli reached with rebellious officers Monday night includes an amnesty for rule-breaking officers, making them eligible for 14,000 promised promotions this month that will raise salaries far above the base pay he promised. The deal also lets officers who retired on 90 percent pay to return to work at twice their old salaries.
Argentinian double-dipping?
‘‘The weapons given to security forces to protect citizens’ life and property cannot be used to force decisions by constitutional powers,’’ warned the Center for Legal and Social Studies, a human rights group that has closely tracked police abuse. ‘‘We think it’s urgent that the security forces stop intensifying the violence and feeding incidents that pose very high risks to our society and its institutions.’’
Tuesday marked three decades since President Raul Alfonsin’s inauguration ended the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
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"Looting ends as Argentine police strike is resolved" by Michael Warren | Associated Press, December 05, 2013
BUENOS AIRES — A sit-in by police seeking pay raises in Argentina’s second-largest city prompted hours of looting, robberies, injuries, and vigilante mobs trying to protect their neighborhoods before the provincial government agreed to the officers’ demands and peace returned to the streets Wednesday.
Finally, a successful protest!
Three deaths were reported amid the violence in Cordoba and a copycat effort to loot a store outside the nation’s capital.
The accord brings steep pay hikes for Cordoba police. Governor Jose Manuel de la Sota said they will now be the best-paid in the nation. But the violence suggests how easily social conflicts can erupt in Argentina.
De la Sota, a political rival of President Cristina Fernandez who says she starves Cordoba of federal support, said her administration could have easily prevented the violence by sending national police in earlier.
‘‘It’s like we have to burn our national identity document because there are some who don’t consider us part of the Argentine Republic,’’ de la Sota complained in a fiery speech Wednesday after resolving the strike.
So is this the U.S guy in waiting?
The president’s Cabinet chief, Jorge Capitanich, denied this and accused de la Sota of trying to shift the blame for a problem that was entirely his responsibility.
The violence began Tuesday evening after police abandoned their posts while the governor was traveling outside Argentina, and continued through the night, with storefronts shattered, mobs stealing merchandise, robbers attacking people in the streets, and vigilantes arming themselves to protect their homes.
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Time to burn some incriminating evidence:
"Fire at Argentine bank archives kills nine" by Michael Warren | Associated Press, February 06, 2014
BUENOS AIRES — Nine first responders were killed and seven others injured as they battled a fire of unknown origin that destroyed an archive of corporate and banking industry documents in Argentina’s capital on Wednesday.
So what corruption investigations were involved?
The fire at the Iron Mountain warehouse took hours to control, and at least half of the sprawling building was ruined despite the efforts of at least 10 squads of firefighters.
The nine firefighters and civil defense workers were crushed when a brick wall collapsed on top of a large group of first responders on the sidewalk and street.
Tearful rescuers removed rubble by hand to reach their comrades.
‘‘It took them completely by surprise,’’ Argentine Security Secretary Sergio Berni said. ‘‘Some of the injured are fighting for their lives.’’
Berni said Iron Mountain also had employees inside the building when the fire started early Wednesday, but all the employees and firefighters were accounted for by early afternoon.
The destroyed archives included documents stored for Argentine corporations and banks, said Buenos Aires security minister Guillermo Montenegro.
The cause was not immediately clear. Berni said the company’s on-site firefighters shared some details with authorities, and Iron Mountain said it too will investigate.
‘‘All of this will end up in court,’’ Berni said, declining to make any details public.
If the cause is found to be arson, it would not be the first time for Boston-based Iron Mountain, which manages, stores, and protects information for more than 156,000 companies and organizations in 36 countries.
I think I'm getting some Ironwood!
Fire investigators blamed arson for blazes that destroyed its warehouses in New Jersey in 1997 and London in 2006, prompting rounds of legal claims over lost records.
Hmmmmmmmm!
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Also see: Juan Gelman, famed Argentine poet; at 83
Yeah, they lost some of those in the fire.
